Creating unique jewellery with pearls and coloured gems
February 26, 2019
By Renée Newman
Multicoloured South Sea cultured pearls with white diamonds, multicoloured sapphires, and tsavorite garnets in a necklace from Assael’s ‘Tropical Luxe’ collection.
"Combining cultured pearls with coloured gems offers many benefits. It not only allows jewellers to make one-of-a-kind pieces and expand their jewellery lines, but also helps them add contrast to their coloured gem jewellery while making it more affordable. Cultured freshwater pearls are a less expensive accent than diamonds or moonstone, for example, for the ruby necklace by Gloria Bass on this page.
Similarly, gemstones can add contrast to pearl jewellery. In a piece by New York designer Chris Davies, lapis lazuli highlights golden South Sea cultured pearls and turns them into one-of-a-kind earrings. Tsavorites and sapphires also add colour to Yoko London’s white South Sea cultured pearl ring in Figure 1.
White pearl strands can also be enhanced with coloured gems. For example, Illinois designer Eve Alfillé added fluorites to a strand of white freshwater cultured pearls from Lake Biwa, and sapphires accent the white keshi pearl strands in necklaces by the Pearl Exporting Company. The term ‘keshi’ has a variety of meanings, but here they are tiny nonbeaded akoya cultured pearls that are byproducts of pearl cultivation. ‘Keshi’ was first used to refer to natural seed pearls found when harvesting Japanese akoya oysters. These natural pearls resembled poppy seeds, which in Japanese are called ‘keshi.’
Even when they are not used as contrast with white pearls, coloured gems allow companies like Assael to add sparkle and brighter colours to their jewellery. In one example, multicoloured South Sea pearls were set with tsavorites and blue and fancy colour sapphires to create a stunning necklace. It attracts more attention with the addition of coloured gems than if it only consisted of cultured pearls.
Coloured gems are increasingly being used to change the appearance of cultured pearl jewellery and even the pearls themselves. Designer Hisano Shepherd, for example, inserts chunky to melee-size coloured gems into cultured freshwater soufflé pearls that have been carved to fit the stones. A soufflé pearl is a hollow pearl that has been nucleated with a dried, hard piece of mud. As the pearl is forming, water seeps into the area with the nucleus and dissolves into the hardened mud. When the pearl is drilled, a liquid drains out from it, leaving a hollow area with very thick nacre walls that can be carved to hold gems. ... "
https://www.jewellerybusiness.com/featu ... ured-gems/
This one is so clever and unique it takes first place.
Figure 2: ‘Sweet Nectar’ pendant by Galatea.
